5th and 8th grade pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of the relationships between teaching methods, classroom ethos, and positive affective attitudes towards learning mathematics in Japan

230

Table 7.2.4: 8^th graders’ affective attitudes towards mathematics learning promoted by
Teacher explanation and Group discussion varying according to their attribution styles of
failure in mathematics learning

Teacher explanation	Enjoyment			Motivation__________			Sense of security			Senseofprogress			Deployment
Teacher explanation	_N__	M__	SD	N	M__	SD	N___	M__	SD	_N___	M__	SD	N___	M__	SD
Lack of ability	88	3.22	1.32	87	2.71	1.37	87	3.05	1,39	87	3.60	1.26	87	3.85	1.17
Lack of effort	487	3.35	1.22	485	3.22	1.21	482	3.41	1.20	482	3.82	1.06	485	3.93	1.05
Lack of luck	16	3.50	1.21	16	3.56	1.26	16	3.44	1.03	16	4.00	1.16	16	3.69	1.20
Lack of support form teacher	55	2.65	1.42	54	2.48	1.30	55	2.93	1.41	55	3.07	1.29	55	3.73	1.06
Lack of home support___________	24	^W	1.31	24	3.17	~T37^^	24	3.38	1.31	~1Γ	^3√Γ	1.08	24	3.96	^-96^^
Task difficulty	~58~		1.28	58	3.28	~125~	58	3.36	^^τL29^-	58	3.93	1.01	58	3.64	^TlΓ
ANOVA_______	F=1.512, p<1.0			F=2.293, p<. 01			F=1257, p<1.0			F=2.470, p<. 01			F=1,277, p<.5

Group discussion_________	Enjoyment_________			Motivation___________			Sense of security			Sense of progress			Deployment_______
Group discussion_________	_N___	M__	SD	N___	M	SD	N___	M__	SD	N___	M__	SD	N___	M__	SD
Lack of ability	88	2.72	1.39	87	2.83	1.46	87	2.67	1.44	87	2.53	1.27	87	1.51	.79
Lack of effort	487	2.72	1.29	484	2.69	1.24	480	2.60	1.21	482	2.72	1.19	482	1.56	.75
Lack of luck_______	16	2.63	1.26	16	2.44	1.41	16	2.25	1.13	16	2.50	1.16	16	1.44	.73
Lack of support form teacher	55	2.55	1.39	55	2.55	1.36	55	2.31	1.25	55	2.11	1.29	55	1.35	.70
Lack of home support___________	24	3.08	1.35	24	^27Γ	1.20	24	2.88	1/19	~24^"	2.79	^-98^	23	1.70	.64
Task difficulty	58	2.67	1.47	58	2.71	1.21	58	2.53	1.05	58	2.48	1.06	58	1.47	.68
ANOVA_______	F=1.092, p<. 5			F=.775, p<1.0			F=1.327, p<. 5			F=2.039, p<. 01			F=1.297, p<.5

Teachers’ perception

Teachers were asked to explain in an open question on the questionnaire why they
thought some of their pupils succeeded in learning mathematics and others failed to do
so. Space was given for teachers to explain the attributions of their pupils’ being good or
poor at mathematics separately. However, many teachers presented closely related
views regarding the attributions of pupils’ success and failure in mathematics learning.
Teachers perceived that pupils failing in mathematics learning lacked certain
characteristics, which pupils succeeding had. Teachers’ attributions for pupils’ being
good at mathematics were broadly divided into four categories: Effort, Ability, Interest,
and Competencies.

• Effort indicated pupils’ positive attitudes towards learning mathematics such as
concentration on learning and perseverance. Many teachers whose response was
categorised into this group used the word ‘effort’ or ‘continuous effort’.

• Ability indicated pupils’ natural innate abilities. Teachers wrote, for example,
‘Heredity’, ‘Nature’, ‘Native sense’ here.

• Interest indicated pupils’ high interest in learning mathematics. Examples included
‘Fond of learning mathematics’, and ‘High interest in mathematics’.

230

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